William H. Mumler was an American
Spirit photographer who worked in New York and Boston. His first Spirit
photograph was a self-portrait which developed to apparently show his deceased
cousin. Mumler then left his job as a jeweler, instead opting to work as a full
time photographer, taking advantage of the large number of people who had lost
relatives in the American Civil War. Perhaps his two most famous works are the
photograph of Mary Todd Lincoln with the ghost of her husband Abraham Lincoln,
and his photo of Master Herrod, a Medium, with three Spirit Guides.
Before beginning his career as a spirit photographer, Mumler worked as a
jewel engraver in Boston, practicing amateur photography in his spare time. In
the early 1860s, he developed a self-portrait [above] that appeared to feature
the apparition of his cousin who had been dead for 12 years. This is widely
credited as the first Spirit Photograph,,,a photograph of a living subject featuring the
likeness of a deceased person (often a relative) imprinted by the Spirit of the
deceased. Mumler then became a full-time spirit photographer, and moved to New
York where his work was analyzed by numerous photography experts, none of whom
could find any evidence that they were fraudulent. Spirit photography is thought
to have been a lucrative business thanks to the families of those killed during
the American Civil War seeking reassurance that their relatives lived on.

Critics of Mumler's work included P. T. Barnum, who claimed Mumler was taking
advantage of people whose judgment was clouded by grief. After the discovery
that some of Mumler's 'ghosts' were in fact living people, and accusations that
he had broken into houses to steal photos of deceased relatives, Mumler was
brought to trial for fraud in April 1869. Barnum testified against him, hiring
Abraham Bogardus to create a picture that appeared to show Barnum with the ghost
of Abraham Lincoln to demonstrate the ease with which the photos could be
created. Those testifying in support of Mumler included Moses A. Dow, a
journalist who Mumler had photographed. Though acquitted of fraud, Mumler's
career was ruined and he died in poverty in 1884.

Mrs Mary Todd Lincoln
President Abraham Lincoln

Above is a developed photographic plate taken by Mumler of Mrs Mary Todd Lincoln
months afterher husband was assassination on the April 15, 1865,
[when he was alive President Abraham Lincoln is one on the right ]. Mary
allowed some of her friends who were Spiritualists to visit her in the White House,
where some seances took place, as well as clairvoyant readings by
several of the Spiritualist. They attempted to console the grieving widow. Many
times to avoid publicity Mary went to outside seances under assumed names. Being
mediumistic herself she
liked to test the Mediums' skills. Once, on a trip to Boston, she attended a
seance using the name Mrs. Tundall to avoid recognition, on this occasion as it
was widely publicized, this time she must have been noticed.

Abraham her
husband appeared
before her during one of the many seances, records show no mention of the Medium
who sat for the First Lady at that seance. This photograph gave Mary great
comfort that Abraham was still with her and could be shown to be so.

During the bereavement period, Mrs Lincoln visited William Mumler's studio.
Mumler with his help of Spirit produced the photograph above of Mary with
Abraham with his hands on her shoulders.

A paranormal researcher Melvyn Willin, in
his book Ghosts Caught on Film, claims that the photo was taken around 1869, and
that Mumler did not know that his sitter was Lincoln, instead believing her to
be a 'Mrs Tundall'. Willin goes on to say that Mumler did not discover who she
was until after the photo was developed.The College of Psychic Studies,
referencing notes belonging to William Stainton Moses (who has appeared in
photographs by other spirit photographers), claim that the photo was taken in
the early 1870s, Lincoln had assumed the name of 'Mrs. Lindall' and that Lincoln
had to be encouraged by Mumler's wife (a Medium) to identify her husband on the
photo.Though the image has been dismissed as being accidental double exposure,
it has been widely circulated. {Is this yet again the establishment and the
Christian Church and other religions throwing mud ?}.

Master Herrod

Master Herrod of North Bridgwater, Massachusetts

Mumler 's advertisements in spiritualist
publications offered two photographs of Master Herrod of North Bridgwater, Massachusetts for sale:
This young man is a Medium. Before sitting for this picture three Spirits
offered to show themselves, representing Europe, Africa and America. As will be
seen by the picture, this promise was fulfilled. Also a picture was taken while
entranced, and shows his double. (The Religio-Philosophical Journal, August 24,
1872)
Dr. Nandor Fodor, in his Encyclopaedia of Psychic Science (1934), explains that
the Spirits representing the continents were "a European, a Negro, and an
Indian." And Fodor further quotes Mumler as writing,

It then occurred to me to take [Master Harrod's] picture while entranced, to see
if I could get the controlling power; and to that end I asked if there was any
Spirit present would he please entrance the Medium. In a few moments he threw
his head back, apparently in a deep trance. I then adjusted the focus and
exposed the plate, and took the picture as represented. The Spirit seen here is
undoubtedly his double as it is unmistakably a true likeness of himself.
While Master Herrod seems rather young to be dabbling in the occult, it should
be remembered that spiritualism in America was launched by two young sisters in
1848. Margaret and Kate Fox were ages 15 and 11 when they began to converse with
spirits of the deceased at their home in Hydesville, New York. This
communication took the form of mysterious rapping sounds that answered spoken
questions.

Other photographs
Other photographs by Mumler included pictures showing various Spirits (including
relatives, fiancés, actresses and spirit guides) with living sitters. Other well
known sitters include Moses A. Dow (editor of The Waverley Magazine) whose
photograph apparently showed the Spirit of his assistant Mabel Warren, and
Fannie Conant, a well known Medium from Boston, apparently photographed with the
ghost of her brother Chas.

After being accused of various activities, he was taken to court for fraud, with
noted showman P. T. Barnum testifying against him. Though found not guilty, his
career was over, and he died in poverty.

He lived in Boston, Massachusetts, where
he was employed as the head engraver of the jewelry firm Bigelow, Kennard & Co.
According to his account, one day, in a friend's studio, he tried to take a
photograph of himself by focusing the camera on an empty chair and springing
into position on the chair after uncapping the lens. Upon developing the plate
he discovered an extraneous figure, a young, transparent girl sitting in the
chair, fading away into a dim mist in the lower parts. He identified the girl as
his cousin who had died twelve years before. The experiment was repeated and he
became satisfied that the extra faces appearing on his plates were of
supernatural origin. The news of Mumler's discovery spread and he was besieged
with so many requests for sittings that he gave up his position and became a
professional spirit photographer.

Among the first to investigate Mumler's powers was Andrew Jackson Davis, then
editor of the Herald of Progress in New York. He first sent a professional
photographer to test Mumler and on his favorable report conducted an
investigation himself. He was satisfied that the new psychic manifestation was
genuine.

Mumler's reputation was established and, as his fame grew, he did tremendous
business.

The first scandal, however, was not long in coming. It was discovered that he
obtained from time to time the spirit portraits of men who were very much alive.
Apologists claimed that the pictures must be genuine since they had been
recognized by relatives and that the processes of production had been properly
supervised to obviate fraud. It was thought that the living individuals might be
doubles of the "spirits." Mumler himself could not explain the result, but
eventually even local Spiritualists accused him of trickery. Such a hue and cry
was raised that in 1868 he was forced to transfer his headquarters to New York.

He prospered for a while until he was arrested by the order of the mayor of New
York on an accusation of fraud raised by a newspaperman. who was backed by
Barnam the very rich person of the travelling circus fame. The journalist, P. V.
Hickey, of the New York World, approached Mumler for a spirit photograph, giving
a false name, hoping to get a good story for his newspaper. However, at the
trial professional photographers and independent citizens testified for Mumler
and he was acquitted.

His further career was filled with ups and downs; Mumler died on May 16, 1884,
in poverty.

Spirit photography, was taken to court in
New York City in 1869. The case: a preliminary hearing for William H. Mumler, who was charged with
fraud for selling photographs that he claimed included images of ghosts or
spirits. Testimony and arguments lasted for seven days. On Mumler's side,
witnesses included a prominent former judge who was also a spiritualist. Among
the opposing witnesses were several photographers who explained how the same
effects could be achieved by darkroom tricks, and P. T. Barnum--who said he
purchased some of Mumler's photographs to exhibit them in his museum as
specimens of humbug.

The hearing attracted nationwide attention, including the full cover page (and
back-page cartoon ) of the mass circulation Harper's Weekly.

In the end, the judge in the case reluctantly decided to drop the charges
against Mumler, citing a lack of evidence. According to The New York Daily
Tribune, the judge explained "however he might believe that trick and deception
had been practiced [by Mumler], yet, as he sat there in his capacity as
magistrate, he was compelled to decide...the prosecution had failed to prove the
case."

Both sides were thus able to declare victory. The prosecution had exposed Mumler,
revealing that the same "ghost" appeared in certain photographs taken in Boston
and New York-- a "spirit" who turned out to be very much a living mortal.

In The Strange Case of William
Mumler, Spirit Photographer, Louis Kaplan brings together, for the first time,
Mumler’s haunting images, his revealing memoir, and rich primary sources,
including newspaper articles and P. T. Barnum’s famous indictment of Mumler in
Humbugs of the World. Kaplan also contributes two extended essays, which offer a
historical perspective of the Mumler phenomena and delve into the sociocultural
and theoretical issues surrounding this vivid ghost story.

Mumler’s case was an early example of investigative journalism intersecting with
a criminal trial that, at its essence, set science against religion. The Strange
Case of William Mumler, Spirit Photographer is the definitive resource for this
unique and fascinating moment in American history and provides insights into
today’s ghosts in the machine.

“This book is an important contribution to the growing literature on spirit
photography and gives the reader an intimate insight into the world of the
Spiritualists and the occult power of the photograph in the 1860s. An extremely
valuable resource.” Martyn Jolly, author of Faces of the Living Dead: The
Belief in Spirit Photography

Kaplan does a great job of presenting both sides of the story and letting the
reader decide about Mumler’s methods and motives — be they spiritual or earthly.
The Strange Case of William Mumler, Spirit Photographer is a great reference for
anyone studying photography, the Civil War era, trial law, ghosts, or
spiritualism. Twin Cities Daily Planet

Professor Louis Kaplan allows history to speak in its own words for most of The
Strange Case of William Mumler, Spirit Photographer. He couldn’t have made a
more enlightening or entertaining choice. No modern telling could adequately
capture the vibrancy and strangeness of the United States’ 19th-century
infatuation with communication between the living and the dead. Globe and Mail.

Kaplan’s book is a must-have for researchers who want to know how we arrived at
the notion that a ghost might be photographed, and that no matter if something
is real or proved fake, when it comes to spirituality, sometimes belief is
stronger than facts.” Ghost Village

Kaplan’s sources provide a rich archive for photographic historians and for
scholars interested in the intersection of photography with law, print culture,
and the growing professionalization of the art in the second half of the
nineteenth century. The Journal of American History

Louis Kaplan is director of the Institute of Communication and Culture at the
University of Toronto at Mississauga and associate professor of history and
theory of photography and new media in the Graduate Department of Art at the
University of Toronto. He is the author of American Exposures: Photography and
Community in the Twentieth Century (Minnesota, 2005).

A photographer operating in Boston and New York during the 1860s, William Mumler
provided a questionable service: he would photograph clients in his studio, and
present them with portraits in which they were accompanied by semi-visible
spirits. Mumler's clientele included many of the richest and most famous of
Americans—one portrait has Mary Todd Lincoln seated in front of her dead
husband, Abraham,,,were limited to about four a day, and were sold for as high a
price as they could get. He was eventually taken to court by the editors of the
New York World newspaper, who were aided by the Mayor of New York City.

The documentary material relating to Mumler's career in The Strange Case of
William Mumler, Spirit Photographer is fascinating, bemusing, beautiful,
technically adept, groundbreaking, and instructive; but it is hardly strange.
There is very little that is really strange about the case of William Mumler,
for there is probably no artistic medium in the world that has not been used
deceptively for the purposes of personal gain. In a twisted way, the case of
Mumler is reassuring, for it demonstrates the ease with which a
technically-savvy con-man with a can-do spirit can make use of the photographic
medium to gull credulous fellow citizens into giving him money. And Mumler's
pictures were most assuredly fakes; anyone who has watched a Hollywood film is
aware of how easily a picture can be manipulated to produce an illusion.

In The Strange Case of William Mumler, editor Louis Kaplan has compiled a
collection of press clippings, photographs, personal biographies of Mumler,
along with the criticism the man received from contemporaries (including famous
showman P.T. Barnum), and on the whole makes a good show of editorial
impartiality. Kaplan claims in his introduction to be interested in the ability
of spirit photography to 'construct meaning and value as well as to provoke
controversy'; he argues that this 'does not involve affirming or debunking the
truth claims of spirit photography…' (4). But the romantic account,,,a
twenty-first century ghost story,,,hovers in the background, like the spectre on
the cover of the book.

The book itself is written in the wake of a successful exhibition of Mumler's
photographs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and seems to be
deliberately structured like a series of museum exhibits. The pictures from
Mumler's photographic practice are labelled and cross-referenced within source
material that is quoted at length. There are engravings done in imitation of
Mumler's work (86), (154); an example of political satire, with photographic
material provided by Mumler (66); and, fake spirit photographs compiled by the
appropriatetly-named Abraham Bogardus in order to give the lie to real spirit
photographs (196).

The Spirits themselves in Mumler's photograph, for all their artificiality, seem
to have a will of their own. They are seen strumming the instruments held by
their living relatives (190), showering spectral flowers on their shoulders
(Plate 3), or leaning on the lap of their estranged mother in prayer (88).
Subjects appear accompanied with spirits who may never to have lived in the
first place; medium Fanny Conant appears in the company of her favourite spirit,
' Vashti', an Indian child,,,sure enough, bearing feathers about her head (111).
In several disturbing pictures, spirits appear bearing the photograph of a
living person, rather than that living person themselves; it is as if they have
become more substantial than the living, more real than reality (41 & 148). And
indeed, Mumler and his clients are really interested in the spirits, the real
subject of the photographs; paradoxically, the presence of dead people give life
to otherwise dull nineteenth-century portraits.

What did people see in the Spirit photographs? Largely, they saw what they
wanted to see, and pointed out to others what they wanted to be seen. A mother recognises a dead child by the length of his ears (151). Mumler claims to take a
spirit portrait of one gallery owner and find the devil's hoof hanging over the
man's head (85 - 87). P.T. Barnum, meanwhile, relates the story of a sister of a
Civil War soldier who, assuming her brother to be dead, goes to a spirit
photographer—probably Mumler, though he is not identified as such in Barnum's
book,,,for a portrait. The photographer complies, and when she later discovers
that her brother is still living, "she simply remarked that some evil spirit had
assumed her brother's form in order to deceive her (67).

Appropriately, in these accounts of a man who claimed to be able to photograph
ghosts who were beyond life, larger-than-life figures such as P.T. Barnum should
appear. In newspaper transcripts of Mumler's court case, both Abraham Bogardus
and Barnum give eloquent testimony, the first objecting that one Spirit portrait
is a transparent lie, the shadow on the sitter being on one side, and the
shadow on the Spirit being on the other" (193). Of course, if normally invisible
Spirits can be seen in photographs, one can only assume they will have shadows!

Barnum, meanwhile, encounters rigorous cross-examination in the court on some of
his own show-business claims:

I have never been in any humbug business, where I did not give value for the
money; these spirit photographs were labelled humbug on the
walls of my Museum; the woolly horse was a remarkable reality and curiosity; it
was exactly what I represented it to be, having a peculiar form and curled hair;
it was exactly a woolly horse; it was not a horse woolled over; the horse was
born
exactly as he was when exhibited in my Museum, and there was nothing artificial
about him (195).

What is the difference between Barnum's flamboyant showmanship and Mumler's
business? Barnum seems to have exaggerated the truth deliberately, to have
created a fiction for the audience while pointing out that it was a fiction;
perhaps Mumler lacked this self-awareness.

It does seem a pity that Kaplan does not really reflect more on how the Mumler
photographs were made. It does not harm Mumler's career now, almost 150-years
on, to point out that he was faking it. That small caveat aside, this is an
entertaining and instructive compilation of material relating to the Mumler
case.

His brush with the law took its toll, both to his reputation and to his
finances. Mumler never recovered from the $3000 cost of
his defense, a staggering sum for its day. He destroyed all of his negatives
shortly before his death in 1884.

In the spring of 1869, William Mumler
appeared before Justice John Dowling in the Court of Special Sessions at the
Tombs Police Court in New York for a preliminary hearing on an unusual charge.
Mumler had been accused of fraud and larceny for making and selling photographs
that purported to bring back the spirits of the dead on glass plate negatives.
This sensational and highly publicized case put the religious movement of
Spiritualism and its belief in communication with the dead itself on trial.
"Documenting Ghosts" will review the contrary claims that were made about what
these ghostly photographs documented and proved, whether deemed to be darkroom
tricks and manipulations or Spiritualist proofs and images made by supernatural
means.

Unknown sitter

Some Photographs by William H Mumler of Boston, then New York, USA.

When William Mumler was a accused of fraud, a hoax photograph was paid for by P. T. Barnum [in the picture] the showman and
committed Christian, it was produced by his hired professional photographer,
Abraham Bogardus. Barnum paid for the best legal minds available as he had the
money to do so and made sure he was there at the trail of William Mumler and produced himself,
the photographer and the photograph, to bring him popularity and publicity,
using it all to the best of his ability at the trail of William Mumler April
1869 to discredit him, Barnum NEVER attended any sittings at which
Mumler produced his Spirit extras on the photographic plates. [William Mumler
was not a wealthy man by any means, he was doomed from the start].

In 1891 Alfred Russell Wallace, the co-developer of the theory of evolution,
threw his hat into the ring by declaring that Spirit Photography should be
studied more closely and done so scientifically, as he had been studying it
over a number of years, and had come to the conclusion that not all his
finding could be put down as hoaxes. Just because some were, did not mean that
they all were and his findings could not be dismissed.

Despite of his open comments the Spiritualist community kept their Spirit
Photography away from the public gaze for many years. But during that time
different photographs of some note crept out into the public arena, some of
them could not be explained away even by the skeptics.

A quote from Hon. Moses A. Dow who is seated in the photograph with the Spirit
extra of his wife taken by William H. Mumler

The picture presents me as sitting upright in a chair, with my legs crossed. My
hands lie on my lap, with the fingers locked together. Mabel stands partially
behind my right shoulder, dressed in a white, well-fitting robe. Her hair is
combed back, and her head is encircled by a wreath of white lilies. Her head
inclines forward so as to lay her cheek on my right temple, from which my hair
is always parted. Her right hand passes over my left arm, and clasps my hand.
Her left hand is seen on my left shoulder, and between the thumb and forefinger
of this hand is held an opening moss rosebud, the exact counterpart of the one
that I placed there while she lay in the casket, at her funeral. Her head
partially covers my forehead, showing that my picture was not taken on a
previously prepared

Photograph by William H Mumler is of the
Medium Mrs
Fannie Conant of the magazine the Banner of
Light. The Spirit extra is her brother Charles H Crowell 1868. The Banner of
Light was a Spiritual Philosophy newspaper that had all manner of articles
ranging from lectures of trance and non trance Spiritualist speakers and reports
from eminent scientists of tests conducted on Mediums of the day and mediumistic
happenings.
The Message Department of the magazine was described as "a page of Spirit-Messages from the
departed to their friends in earth-life, given through the mediumship of Mrs. J.
H. Conant, providing direct spirit-intercourse between the Mundane and
Super-Mundane Worlds."

Fanny Conant wrote the book, Flashes of Light from the Spirit-World which
is a 400-page compilation of questions answered by the Spirits through her Mediumship.
The is another book you might want to try and get hold of; The Biography of Mrs. Conant, subtitled
Immortality Demonstrated
Through Her Mediumship, was published in Boston by W. White in 1873.

This photograph by William H Mumler is of Mrs French from Boston USA with the Spirit
extra of her Son,1868.

Some accused Mumler of fraud YET it was said that the two eminent
photographers of the day: James W. Black of Boston and Jeremiah Gurney of
New York. According to Mumler's 1875 memoir, Black challenged Mumler to take his
spirit photograph, and to allow him to examine the entire process. If a Spirit
Form was produced, Black would pay Mumler fifty dollars. Mumler accepted the
challenge and says when the Spirit of a man appeared beside Black s figure on
the negative, "Mr. B., watching with wonder-stricken eyes this development,
exclaimed: "My God! Is it possible?"

Gurney, called to investigate Mumler by the New York Sun, later testified that
he witnessed Mumler preparing and taking his portrait but did not discover any
deception; "in developing the negative," Gurney testified, "I applied the
chemicals myself, and upon the negative was a shadowy form."

Photograph by William H Mumler taken of an unknown sitter with two Spirit extras,
1870. USA.

This image is of a normal person who would have come off the
streets of Boston into the Mumler studio and the photograph had no celebrity or
well known personality impressed on it just the loved ones of the private
person, who was one of the many thousands who flocked to the studio to hopefully
have superimposed by the Spirit World their own relative or deceased friend on
their personal photograph.

Photograph by William H Mumler taken of
Captain R Montgomery with his Spirit daughter,
1870. USA.

The back of the card shows the subject is "Captain Montgomery".
From the Kaplan book we also learned that the subject is Captain R.
Montgomery of Hodgsdon Mills, Maine. The girl holding the flower to his face
is said to be a likeness of his dead daughter. He sat for another Mumler
portrait in which he received a likeness of his mother.

People are researching Captain Montgomery and hope to add more
information about him. Hodgsdon Mills does not appear to be a current town
in Maine but they have found a reference to a Captain Robert Montgomery who
died in 1882 and was buried in Boothbay, Maine.